The three stars of ‘UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann’ in Las Vegas

The three stars of ‘UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann’ in Las Vegas

February won’t be a month the UFC remembers all that fondly, but fortunately, the final of three events was a solid one with “UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann” filled with standout performances.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) stole the show once again with the third successful defense of her title, which came against Sara McMann (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner in Las Vegas.

The two Olympic medalists didn’t have long to showcase their world-class skills on the ground. “Rowdy’s” knee to the body spelled the end for McMann just 66 seconds into the opening frame.

Rousey highlighted a night with several meaningful victories across multiple weight classes, most of which had title implications for the respective victors.

Now that the UFC’s second PPV event of the year is a thing of the past, here are our three stars for UFC 170.

Raphael Assuncao (22-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Alexis Davis (16-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC) share the third star for a similar reason: They both potentially earned title shots and continue to set the bar for excellence.

Assuncao may have locked up a title fight with 135-pound champion Renan Barao after edging highly regarded bantamweight prospect Pedro Munhoz in what was essentially a no-win situation. The 31-year-old took the fight with the UFC newcomer on short notice and earned his sixth consecutive win. It’s hard to argue who in the division is more deserving of a championship fight.

While Davis’ victory over Jessica Eye was admittedly less convincing than Assuncao’s performance, she still edged an extremely tough opponent to maintain her undefeated UFC record. The win also lined Davis up as a potential candidate to challenge for Rousey’s UFC title, which would give her the opportunity to become the third Canadian champion in UFC history.

Some critics doubted Rory MacDonald’s (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) potential after a series of lackluster performances, including a loss to Robbie Lawler this past year. And for the first round of his fight with Demian Maia, it appeared the concerns were valid.

But after dropping the first round to the jiu-jitsu whiz, MacDonald turned up the intensity and bested Maia over the second and third frames for the decision victory.

The thrilling 15-minute affair was in stark contrast to some of the snoozers “Ares” has turned in recently, and it went in a long way in helping him get back in the good graces of UFC President Dana White.

MacDonald received one half of UFC 170’s “Fight of the Night” bonus for his efforts, and the win lined him up for more crucial bouts in the welterweight division.

What many believed to be Rousey’s most difficult challenge to date instead turned out to be her quickest fight since joining the UFC roster as she used her striking skills to finish McMann in the first round.

UFC 170 was all about “Rowdy” going into the event, and to the surprise of few, the 26-year-old stole the headlines afterward.

From registering the first knockout victory of her career, to entering the record books with the first knockdown to stem from a standing strike in the division’s history, to her ridiculously speedy turnaround between fights, Rousey performed as well as anyone could have expected.

While the performance was somewhat hindered by controversy due to referee Herb Dean’s quick stoppage, none of the blame can be placed on Rousey, and the champion can only be judged by her performance.

There’s no denying Rousey was the top star of the night, especially after recording the fastest win in a UFC main event fight in the past 27 months.